Maemo vs Android

There is no doubt that Linux
will be the dominant player in the mobile market by the end of 2010. This
is largely thanks to Google's Android OS, which has been
appearing on more handsets than I can count the past few months. Android is
not the only mobile Linux operating system (however, it is easily the most
popular) that exists. I have made more than a few posts about my Nokia
N900, which is another mobile device that runs a variation of Linux
known as Maemo.

I recently came into possession of an Android
powered device of my own and I was curious to see what all
the fuss was about. For the last week I have retired my N900 to the back
seat and had my SIM card inserted in my Android powered Kaiser just to see
how Google's mobile operating system handles itself in comparison to Maemo.
I am going to compare and contrast the two on the following key points:

Hardware Selection - What
hardware do you have for running the operating system on?

Computing - Does the OS function as you
would expect a computer in 2010 to?

Phone - Both operating systems dial out, but which functions
as a phone more efficiently?

Applications - Apps, apps, apps! How is the application
selection on the OS?

Internet Usage - Our mobile devices are our connection to the WWW, which OS
shines when surfing the web?

Hardware Selection -
There is no argument about this one, one of the most powerful things about
Android is its ability to run on multitude of hand-helds (even hand-helds
it wasn't initially intended for!). Big and small. Capacitive screen and
resistive screen. Slide out keyboard, stationary keyboard, flipping
keyboard, - heck even no keyboard at all! There is an Android device out
there to suit just about everyone's needs.

Hardware Selection 10/10 -
Android Total 10/10

Maemo on the other hand currently only resides on the N900. While the N900 is powerful,
unique, and well made hardware there is not much choice in the matter if
you would like a Maemo based hand-held. The N900 is it.

Hardware Selection 6/10 -
Maemo Total 6/10

Computing -
Our hand-helds are getting more and more powerful. With each new release
they become closer and close to being full blown computers - as such they
require full blown operating systems. Since Android runs on a wide array of
devices I do not think it would be fair to compare performance between the
two operating systems (as your mileage will vary with your hardware),
instead I am going to focus on the aspects of the GUI and how the operating
system handles itself.

In general, Android looks and feels like a (smart) phone. Which isn't bad
depending on what you are looking for. Personally I find multitasking on
Android counterintuitive when compared to multitasking on a full-sized
computer. I say this because when you press your "home" button to get back
to your Android desktop the application you had open has to be reopened
from its launcher icon or by a long press of the home key - not from a
task bar/list of open applications like most operating systems have.

Android provides four desktop spaces on which you can place
widgets/application launchers to your hearts content. Which is a good thing
if you have a lot of applications on your Android device - because once you
start to get a whole lot of them installed, they all get lumped together in
your application selector, making it hard to navigate for the one you want.
My only complaint about Android's work spaces is that you cannot loop from
the desktop on the rightmost to the desktop on the leftmost, really a small
thing but worth mentioning.

Speaking of widgets - I highly suggest you find one for toggling your
device's WiFi on and off. If you do not have one of these you have to dig
through three layers of settings menus to toggle it. Want to connect to a
new access point? Three layers of menus again. I think something used as
often as a WiFi connection should be more readily available for usage.
Toggling your data connection on Android is just as annoying and you cannot
even disable your data fully with a single switch. When you uncheck the
"data connection" in the settings manager, you are informed that some
applications might still use background data.To fully disable your 2g/3g -
e.g., to save some battery juice - you need to crawl through each of your
individual applications that might use background data and be sure they are
off. Inconvenient to say the least. I am sure there is an application out
there to fully toggle it off it with one button - but it is not included by
default, and it should be.

There are just a few things about Android that really keep it from having
that full computer feeling. For one thing, you have to "root" your device
in order to have full control/access to the system. Second, among all the
Android devices you can choose from, none of them have even a full gigabyte
of internal storage. They all rely on MicroSD cards for storing media/files
upon. Last, I have yet to find a terminal application I like. Namely
because - and this may just be the key mappings on my device - I cannot
recall past terminal commands with the up/down arrows or move back over to
make an edit to a line with the left/right arrows.

Computing 7/10 - Android Total 8.5/10

Using Maemo on the other hand feels like you are holding a full computer in
your hand. It's easy to keep track of multiple applications you have open
on Maemo, because you can tap a single button to view/switch between all
open applications at any given time. Similar to Android, Maemo also has
four work spaces on which you can place widgets, application launchers, and
contacts for quick access. Like a full Linux distro, however, Maemo's
desktops allow you to flow one into the next, continuously in a loop. Maemo
also allows you to easily edit the number of workspaces available.

Maemo also handles connecting to WiFi and data just like a desktop
operating system would. Select "Internet Connection" from your system tray,
and it scans for nearby WiFi networks as well as checking whether or not a
data connection is available. It readily gives the user full control over
whether or not a connection is active - something I appreciate.

While Maemo is not perfect it is easily the closest experience you will
have to a full-blown operating system on a hand-held device.

Computing 9/10 - Maemo Total 7.5/10

Phone -
No matter how much these devices do and what software we cram into them -
they are, at their core, still suppose to be phones.

The Android platform makes a great phone. It automatically syncs with all
of your Google services to suck down your contacts, calender, and email
from your Gmail account. While this is nice, there's one annoying
thing you'll have to deal with right off the bat: organizing your Gmail
contacts. If you are anything like me, most of them were un-named and
just emails (no phone numbers) before you got your Android device. While it
takes some time to enter all your information, it is not quite as painful
as other phones because you can enter all the information on your computer
and then sync it to your Android device.

The default text messaging application in Android is functional, but leaves
something to be desired. Thankfully, there's a free application in the
marketplace called "Handcent" that provides a wonderful SMS experience on
Android. It has both a sleek GUI and a "quick reply" feature that make it a
wonderful application. Android makes for a great phone, but there is
definitely room for improvement.

Phone 8/10 - Android Total 8.3/10

The first thing you will notice about Maemo is that, other than the dialler
application, none of the other "phone" feature applications have a portrait
mode. Personally, I prefer this - but it may be a deal breaker for some. In
contrast to Android, Maemo's default SMS program works well and looks
great. Incoming SMSes are displayed as a short preview over whatever
application you currently have open (without interrupting your work), a
handy feature when you are in the middle of something. Notably lacking by
default on Maemo, however, is MMS functionality. There is a community
written application called "fMMS" that allows for the sending and receiving
of pictures that works perfectly fine, but it does not currently support
media clips.

One feature that truly sets Maemo apart from Android, and every other
mobile phone out there currently, is that if you have a Skype account, it
will fully integrate with your contacts. That is, if you have an active
Internet connection when you want to call someone, you can choose to call
them from your Skype account - meaning
it does not use your mobile minutes. Also fully integrated in the well-
designed SMS client is the ability to interface with Skype IM, AIM, Yahoo,
Google, Facebook, etc. While Android has separate clients for these chat
protocols, I like that Maemo has them all in one central location linked in
with SMS.

Phone 8/10 - Maemo Total 7.7/10

Applications -
The applications make the device - without good software, an operating
system is fairly useless.

Android has a large application market - currently over 30k apps - that is
easily accessible from the "market place" link on your device. There are a
good number of free applications in the market place; however, many of them
are ad-supported. If that doesn't bother you, great! Personally, I
dislike ads taking up my screen space. Most of the ad-supported
applications do have an identical ad-free version for purchase. If you
really like a certain application, then just pay the few dollars to enjoy it
without the ads.

There are a lot good applications for Android - however I would really like
to see some more quality truly free applications for it.

Applications 8/10 - Android Total 8.2/10

Maemo takes an interesting approach to applications. Accessible via the
webrowser is the "Ovi store", an online source for free and paid
applications made by developers. The Ovi Store offers easy one-click
install through the browser and has some good applications both for
purchase and free (none that I have found are ad-supported as of yet).
The only problem with the Ovi store is that it currently only has maybe one
hundred applications in it, slim picking compared to the Android market
place.

The interesting part about Maemo - is that just like Ubuntu or other Linux
distros it also has an "application manager" (powered by apt-get). Which, as
part of its managing abilities, also contains repositories you can download
free software from. Most of the applications found here are ports
of open source favourites such as Abiword and Super-Tux, however some of
them are new applications designed just for Maemo. The default repositories
are sponsored/paid for by Nokia (the backing company for Maemo) and they
are maintained by the community.

Once Maemo has had a year or two to fully mature and to allow the
application market to expand it will be truly superb - but for now it can
leave something to be desired at times.

Applications 7/10 - Maemo Total 7.5/10

Internet Usage - Our hand-helds are oftentimes our
main connection to the World Wide Web. As such, having a good Internet
experience on a mobile operating system is a must if it is going
to make it.

Android provides an average web surfing experience. The default browser is
functional, but nothing spectacular. It renders all pages by default in
their "mobile" version if it is offered, and for most people, that's more than
enough. If you need something a little more powerful, Opera's Mobile browser is
available in the market place - it renders pages quickly and I have yet to
find a website it does not display properly. I find the GUI on Opera to be
slightly cluttered however, so if the page loads in the default Android
browser I tend to use it instead.

Where Android really shines on the web, however, is its Google Maps
integration. Easily one of the best mapping systems on a hand-held device.
If your hardware has a GPS it will be quickly detected and used to
pin-point your current location. From there you can map your way with ease
to your destination.

Internet Usage 8/10 - Android Total 8.2/10

I'm going to go out on a limb here and just say it: Maemo provides the best
mobile browsing experience that currently exists. Its default web browser is
quick and renders pages properly (including support for Flash 9.4). Don't
care for the default browser for some reason? Maybe want something more
robust or feature rich? Not a problem. Mozilla chose Maemo as the first
platform to release their Firefox Mobile on. While it
takes a bit longer to load than the default browser, once Firefox is
running it works beautifully. It has full tab support, addons, and a
download manager just like Firefox on the desktop.

Mapping on Maemo is not quite as flawless as using Google maps on Android,
but it is functional. The default "maps" application made by Ovi works well
with the GPS in the N900 and the routing feature provides a good number of
options depending on what type of trip you are taking. If you do not care
for the default mapping application, Google maps does run fairly well in
Maemo's browser. It is not quite as fast as the maps application running on
Android however.

I feel Maemo is currently unrivalled as a mobile internet operating system
and if it had a slightly better mapping program I would give it a 10 out of
10.

Internet Usage 9/10 -
Maemo Total 7.8/10

Final Scores - Android 8.2 &
Maemo 7.8

Follow Up - No operating system is perfect, Maemo and
Android included. Which of the two operating systems is right for you? How
should I know? Each has it advantages and disadvantages. From the final
scores here, you may be inclined to believe that I consider Android as the
better of the two - however, this is not the case. If you review all of the
scores, the one thing that really brought Maemo down was that it is
currently available on a single device. That is, if you are like myself and
like the N900 hardware Maemo comes on, then that first score is pointless
for you. It is hard to say where either of these operating systems will be
a year from now with the rate technology advances (and who knows what is
going to happen to Maemo with MeeGo lurking
around the bend).

I am currently a full time student working my way through a math
education program on the south side of Chicago. I work in both theatre &
computer fields currently. I am a huge believer in Linux and believe we
will see Microsoft's dominant market share on the personal computer
crumble at some point in the next twenty years. I write a good deal
about technology and you can always find my most current
thoughts/reviews/ramblings at http://jeffhoogland.blogspot.com/